Zoomi Life

After surviving the bailout scandals and leaving the competition behind to beg for dough and make fools of themselves, the Ford Motor Company may have just signed their own death warrant.

Microsoft announced that Ford will be amongst the company’s trusted partners who’ll be upgrading to Windows 7 when the new operating system comes out. Being in the “early adoption” game, Ford has apparently decided to risk it all on something that, frankly, doesn’t have a very good track record.

Read More: Ford to Upgrade to Windows 7, Crash May Be Imminent

Drew Barrymore was on Jay Leno’s new show as his debut racer. She showed up in high heels, a tight dress, and ready to rock. Leno strapped her into the Ford Focus EV and hit the green light, launching her onto the track.

Read More: Drew Barrymore Straps in as Leno’s First Ride in the Celebrity EV Race (video)

The Department of Energy has finally announced the first receipient of a low-interest loan from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVM) program: Ford Motors. Nissan and Tesla Motors are expected to be the next in line.

Read More: U.S. DoE Begins Giving Out ATVM Loans: Ford Gets 1st One

Starting this July, Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., in partnership with the Ford Motor Company, will begin building electric trucks at a new plant near the Kansas City International Airport. The trucks, which we’ve covered before, are ideal for the electric truck delivery market.

Read More: Ford and Smith Electric to Build EV Delivery Vans in Kansas (w/ Video)

Ford has changed marketing tack completely and is jumping into the social networking phenomenon to promote the Fiesta. A hundred people who’re using the cars as everyday vehicles are posting online to various social networking sites like Facebook and blogs.

Read More: Ford Bets The Fiesta’s Future on Social Networking

Ford has announced that they’re retooling the Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, Michigan to become the Michigan Assembly Plant. This means that the facility will no longer build SUVs and will instead become a flexible small car plant.

Read More: Ford Spends $550 Million to Retool Michigan Plant For Hybrids

John is a fuel economy technical expert at the Ford Motor Company and a member of the forums at EcoModder, good friends of Zoomilife. By day, he’s a Ford Engineer, by night… a HyperRocket building genius.

Read More: Ford Engineer Invents HyperRocket in Spare Time: 125mpg, 100+mph

Chrysler officially declared bankruptcy last week amongst cries from various political parties and pundits over the whys and hows of the deal. Despite billions in government bailouts and massive cutbacks by the company–even the restructuring of agreements with United Auto Workers and several of Chrysler’s debtors–the company could not avoid the inevitable.

Read More: Chrysler, Fiat, Bankruptcy and Renewal: Can Fiat Win U.S. Over?

Unimpressed with the marketing blitz of Honda and Toyota’s hypermiling challenges, Ford set out to hold one of its own. The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid issued a 1,000 mile challenge. While I’m a big fan of the Insight and the great mileage it showed in real-world demonstrations, their hypermiling challenge was as rigged as the Toyota one was. Ford, on the other hand, seems to have been serious about making it realistic.

Read More: Fusion Hybrid Gets 81.5mpg in Hypermiling Challenge

Henry Ford’s great-great-granddaughter will be auctioning off a Ford Fusion Hybrid next month at a charity benefit for Heal the Bay. The environmental organization focuses on improving coastal water bodies in Southern California and is holding a fund-raising auction on May 28 during its Bring Back the Beach gala.

Read More: Elena Ford to Auction Fusion Hybrid to Benefit Heal the Bay